Wednesday, August 11, 2010

In 2006, I started the first official Milieu side-project, Coppice Halifax, with a conceptual ambient techno album called 1983. Now, four years later, I've given this album a definitive release after being out of print for so long. Themes of wet lakeside humidity and deep forest green drones, caked in tape hiss and over-compression still sound remarkably fresh today, despite the many changes Coppice Halifax as a project has gone through. Packed to the brim on a 120(!) minute cassette tape, this compendium includes all four original tracks, two bonus tracks from the EED promo CD-R, five previously unreleased tracks from the sessions and a live version of "Lake Busbee" from an ambient house party I did in 2006. All tracks were retrieved and remastered from the original cassettes, which is why I chose to keep the cassette format for this music. Available digitally as well as on 30 hand-numbered cassettes. Don't miss out!

Appropriately coinciding with the dense, crusty foliage of 1983 is a new split between Coppice Halifax and The House In The Woods. The House In The Woods is my friend Martin from the UK, and he makes some of the most incredible ambient techno ever. Imagine a house party inside a submarine, going through icy black waters, miles below the sea's surface, and you're halfway there. Traces of the usual influences like Gas, Yagya or early Aphex Twin are present, but Martin and I are really having our own little party. Each of us donated 40 minutes to the project so what you end up with is a very lengthy trip that takes its time getting through the night. Available for a "name your own price" digital release, and also on a super-limited edition of 30 CD-R copies, for those of you who need to hold it in your hands like we do.

A sister-EP to MML072, and a single for the Coppice Halifax track "Water Column". Depth Analysis contains two alternate versions of tracks from MML072, one being more melodic with a cleaner mix and the other being incredibly dense, stretched out ambient techno droning. Recommended for those of you who wanted MML072 to keep going and going like I did. Limited to 50 copies.

A reprisal of a track from the 2006 EP Clover Farm on Attacknine comes in the form of July's contribution to the Workingman's Drone series. One of the more melodic and accessible pieces in the WD series, Calico II bears some resemblance to Leaves Painted Purple or even David Tagg's EP Skin Diagram. Warbly loops fluttering in and out of audibility with comfortable room noise pops and clicks and whirrs in the background. Limited to 50.

August's piece for Workingman's Drone is a thick columnesque drone bearing the title Headwound Garland. Recorded while I was recovering from dental surgery a few weeks ago, this peice carries with it a heavy fog and a mean low end. Microtonal shifts subtly waver the drone into several pleasant cyclical phrases, and the humming monochromatic gloss on the track sounds even better at high decibel levels. Limited to 50.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Several new things have recently been added to the digital storefront at Milieu Music. In addition to being available in FLAC, they are available in any format you choose upon downloading. Single tracks, or entire albums, the whole thing is cheap. Here is a concise list of what's been added:

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Pulling one from the vaults this month, simply because the weather feels right. Milieu Music HQ has been assaulted by an overabundance of storms and humidity this summer, and this album crept up on its wobbly legs and comforted me in the last couple of weeks. Recorded at the same time as the INSTALL LP Phosphene Weather, Blanket sounds much more corporeal and abstracted. Flutters of watery half-melodies echo around the stereo field, while a warm aching drone slowly unfolds itself, like yellow sun on your face. Chirruping beneath everything is a delicate palette of disembodied room sounds, crunchy textures and moody backdrops. Limited to 50 copies and packaged in translucent "sunspot" paper. Bliss out.

Following 2008's collection of Coppice Halifax remixes comes the second volume of analog-botanical versions. An assemblage of a few out of print tracks along with some brand new unreleased remixes for The Qualia and RxGibbs (the latter is a 20+ minute Ocean Lion styled jam called Powdered Construct). Altogether, like its predecessor, Cmx II is an unlikely album with a definite flow and groove, but also a look back at the Coppice Halifax ouevre. Limited to 50 copies in clear plastic sleeves with inserts.

The first new Vhom full-length since 2008's epic Borley Rectory double-album is Firmamvnt. More guitar-heavy and accessible, despite its tendencies toward the blacker end of the sound spectrum, Firmamvnt is a bold set of guitar improvisations, laid to tape and hung on the castle wall like a looming Carpathian tapestry. Heavy drones mingle with alien languages and the marching of soldiers from a Barlowe-esque version of Hell. This album could ALMOST pass for a VCV record at times, so those of you who enjoyed that side of my guitar work will certainly love this. Limited to 50 copies in black paper sleeves with dark-on-dark cardstock inserts.

Sixth in this year's Workingman's Drone series is a dense piece titled Black Oak Fires. Swells of smoky grey and red archs make their way through the haze, and at about 15 minutes in you start to realize your atoms are dispersing and you're becoming the cloud...but it feels all right. Majestic and linear drone just the way you like to feel it. Limited to 50 copies!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Closely following up April's release of Bell'n Dither is an album called Sadhills. Sadhills compiles and collects several other tracks from the Bell'n Dither recording sessions that did not make the album cut, for various reasons. The concensus here at Milieu Music seems to be that these songs were much more angular in their drum programming, and catered to different moods than those on the album. What it all adds up to is a solid album of melancholic Milieu-melodies over super intricate drumlines, with emphasis on texture and crisp, clean production. Limited to 50 copies!

The third and final EP in the Reverb Microcoma set, numero tres could very well be the strongest of the trio. Breaking out with big funky beats and slow-motion danceclub basslines, and at times reminiscent of things like Our Blue Rainbow or even New Drugs, RM3 is more "classic" Milieu for your summer soundtrack. Notably, the track "Naptime Singalong" is a very intentional nod to Mrs Jynx and her way with pretty melodies though the entire four-track affair should satisfy those who have heard parts 1 and 2. Limited to 50!

Number four in the ongoing Workingman's Drone series is a smooth, airy meditation on the notion of sitting still after a lengthy day of traveling. Best enjoyed with a relaxing couch, bed or chair, preferably with a cool drink in hand and the windows open. "The Aching Legs Of Weary Travelers" is sublime aural sedation, limited to 50 copies.

The fifth disc in the Workingman's Drone series (closing the gap since March's EP wasn't released until April) is an alien drone trip titled "Raise Dead On Planet Jupiter". Composed entirely with a resonating metal bowl and various bits of hardware to ensure a seamless production, "Raise Dead" is about as minimal as it gets. Bringing to mind a more subtle and muted take on the atmospheres of Autumn Soil Feedback, only more submerged and quiet. Limited to 50 copies.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Needing something soft, moody and bittersweet for those humid Summer nights on the way? Look no further. Bell'n Dither is a spiritual follow-up to 2006's dusky electronic effort Night Currents, and probably the most electronic Milieu album yet. Dither is overloaded with skittering, microscopically manipulated beats and spacious pools of warm chords. Droplets of sad, rainy melodies cover a hulking rusted sub-bass contraption while you roll the windows down in your car just so you can smell the air before a thunderstorm. Dither could be considered both a return to form as well as exploratory and new for Milieu, and should satisfy even the most discriminating of Milieu listeners. Limited to 100 copies packaged in a lovely design by David Tagg, who also makes a guest appearance on one of the album's tracks.

Following the previous part one of this Milieu EP miniseries, Reverb Microcoma returns with even more "classic" Milieu sounds, ready to go in your Spring travels. While the first EP was set more in the Colortone universe, this one could fit squarely into the realm of Swaying Palms. Tracks like "Archipelagos" and "Blue Breeze" are total tropical Milieu, while "Melted Radio Tape" spits back a fuzzy space transmission, straight from Jupiter's moon Europa to your stereo. Five solid Milieu jams to rock your block with! Limited to 50.

Being a little late on the Workingman's Drone series this time around, "Sunburnt" should satisfy all of your needs for dense suburban drones. Probably the prettiest one in the series thus far, with a swelling guitar chord reminiscent of Ballasted-era SOTL set over a bubbling field recording that wouldn't be out of place on an early Coppice Halifax record. Warm and drifting, and limited to 50.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Bringing you quite a different record this month with Halifaxian. 100% Coppice Halifax beats! Meant as both a DJ tool, to be used for seamlessly tying last year's Analog Botany series together in a live set, and also as an experiment in minimal electronics, following in the vein of things like Studio 1, Plastikman and Maurizio, but with a Halifaxian twist! You may recognize some of the breaks here from prior Halifax releases, which is intended, and it's the kind of record that a drum-machine nerd like myself might really appreciate. Loaded with groove and ready for the dancefloor, limited to 50!

From similar pastures as Bent Appletrees comes Reverb Microcoma, a solid little EP containing five new Milieu tracks that stroll down memory lane a little bit. Ever find yourself thinking "Man, Slow Lid Close is still fresh!" or "I wish there were more Milieu like this one from 2006"? Well wish no more! One could say that Reverb Microcoma is Milieu playing his hits, in that it could have easily come from 2006-2007. Also a fun time to pick out the very obvious influences here, with Mike & Rich all over "Appletree Beats" and Bochum Welt's basslines on "Sunlighter". Even the track "Coming Home" is probably the best fake Casino Vs. Japan track you'll ever find! Not without humor and limited to 50!

Number two in the brand new Workingman's Drone series is Entasis, a thick and coagulating drone statement recorded using a similar approach to White Kingdoms. Wide open white-noise spaces with slowly pooling massesof a rugged chord. Limited to 50!

Monday, February 15, 2010

For those of you inhabiting the Facebook world who would like to stay in tune with Milieu projects, news, updates, releases and so on, I encourage you to join the official Milieu Facebook group. The group is open to the public, meaning anyone can join, and it will likely be updated pretty often due to me being on Facebook a lot.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Just a small update here to announce one very special new thing: the Childhood's End Preservation Society, or CEPS. This "don't call-it-a-label" imprint now coexists alongside Milieu Music specifically for the purpose of releasing selected works from a gigantic archive of cassette-tape recordings, originating from 1983 to the present. Literally a few hundred tapes...recordings my father made when I was a child, band rehearsals, demos, weird experiments, field recordings, everything. Since I was 14 I obsessively taped everything and CEPS is an effort to preserve that material digitally, before the tapes themselves fall apart.

So where is this massive archive of tapes, you ask? Well, for the moment, while it is still being digitized and cultivated, it is private. However there will be a "storefront" aspect to CEPS as well, which will offer selections from the archives in super-special limited edition packages, as time goes on. Eventually the archive will be a public deal, and I have not quite sorted out how to handle that yet, but for the time being, here is all you really need to know:

The first CEPS release, from the session tapes for my Nine Billion Names album, is a super-limited affair pressed to a lathe hand-cut in New Zealand. Two acoustic songs, each with little codas, that literally and figuratively connect the Nine Billion Names album with my upcoming Summer's Parting Ways release at Attacknine. Payment and shipping of this item is handled by Plastic Log in New Zealand and does NOT go to me, so don't freak out when your money isn't going to the Milieu Music address. Due to the nature of the lathe-cut vinyl, there are really only 40 copies of this EP in existence so if you're keen on getting one, quickness is advised.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Not to be confused with the first Ocean Lion album (MMD002), this is the second album of the Ocean Lion set. Tropically oceanic, sunny and psychedelic as ever, this album is probably one of the best things I think I've done under the Coppice Halifax name. Where the first Ocean Lion was full of muted, elongated tones, this one brings more melody to the forefront, while still filled to the brim with a curtain of dense atmospherics. Loads of bass and deep repetitive grooves, covered in field recordings of the beach. Limited to 50!

As with the first Ocean Lion album, the second one also comes with an EP companion. Two tracks on the more ambient side of the Ocean Lion spectrum, one with twinkling drips of starlike notes over a longing pedalbass, and the other a disembodied still-life depicting a weary traveler, lost at sea. Limited to 50.

Opening a new monthly series for 2010 is Asleep In The Desert. A huge, evolving drone improvisation that brings to mind some of the more melodic moments of Porous Variations. This series, aptly titled Workingman's Drone, will deliver an EP each month. Each EP will be a drone improvisation done on a specific instrument, and each month's source instrument will vary. For WD1, the piece was built using controlled feedback, but recorded in such a way that what you get is a warm, humming drone that is easy on the ears and easy on the mind.

About Me

I make a lot of music, I help run a couple great record labels, I'm happily married, I'm better at school than I used to be, I'm half English and half Italian, I really love food, I'm named after my father's favorite Rolling Stones.